Halloween Gift Ideas
by Diana W
www.giftbasketforall.com

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31st.  It is a fun holiday when children will dress in their favorite costumes and go out trick-or-treating for candies.  This article examines the origin of Halloween, and provides some ideas for Halloween gifts.

Halloween has its origin in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain.  The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and may be regarded as as the Celtic New Year.  The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31st, the boundary between the alive and the dead disappeared, and the dead became dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops.  Costumes and masks were worn at the festival to mimic the evil spirits or placate them.

The name "Halloween" is shortened from All Hallows' Eve as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day", which is now known as All Saints' Day. Although All Saints's Day now occurs one day after Halloween, the Celts started every day at sunset of the night before.  Hence Samhain became "the evening of All Hallows". 

Traditional activities for Halloween include costume parties, carving pumpkins to make Jack-o-lanterns (carved pumpkin lit by a candle inside), reading scaring stories. Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. 

Traditional characters of Halloween include ghosts, witches, vampires, bats, black cats, goblins, skeletons, pumpkin-man, scarecrow and fictional figures such as Dracula. Halloween gifts often include one of these characters for the festivities.

Halloween gifts include the following categories: Jack-O-Lantern gift baskets; gift boxes; gift bags; care packages; candy bouquet; gift tower.

One great way to convey your good wishes to your trick or treaters is to send them a Halloween gift basket.  Most Halloween gift baskets have a Jack-O-Lantern container since Jack-O-Lantern is the symbol of Halloween. A popular gift basket is filled with candy corn (popular Halloween candy, butter microwave popcorn, M & M's, Reese's peanut butter cups, Kit Kat bar, Hershey assorted miniatures, Hershey's marshmallow cream pumpkin, marshmallow ghosts, oldfish bag, and other candies. This gift is truly a must have for Halloween!

Another popular Halloween gift pail comes with plenty of treats, and is delivered by a plush puppy dressed in Halloween costume.  The Halloween pumpkin pail is filled with pumpkin stencils with pumpkin carver, marshmallow pumpkin peeps, silly string, a Halloween CD of spooky stories and sounds, glow bracelets/necklaces, flashlight for the little globlin to go trick-or-treating, peanut butter pumpkins, marshmallow eyeballs, witches warts candies, Halloween bats pretzels, M & M's milk chocolate, Reese's pieces, pumpkin ball and cup game, rice krispie treats, Halloween sucker, and microwave popcorn. This gift pail provides not only Halloween candies, but plenty of fun activities for your trick or treaters.

Every little witch dreams of creating hexes and potions. You can fill their wish this Halloween with a Potions & Hexes Gift Box. Inside the black gloss gift box are microwave popcorn, potions bottle with nerds, miniature Hershey bars, Reese's peanut butter cup, 2 bags of fun shapes Jacks & Bats pretzels, marshmallow ghosts, halloween candy corn, Act II microwave popcorn, and Act II popcorn ball.

For tweens and older kids, you can send them a Halloween Activity Bag. This fun fabric bag carries hand held brain twister games, squishy fun ball, relaxable smiley face ball, creepy crawlers gummi candies, Halloween bats and pumpkins pretzels, candy corn, chocolate bars, marshmallow ghost peeps, candy flavored bubbles. This gift will offer hours fun activities and treats.
 
For your college students and loved ones away from home, sending them a Haloween care package or gift box will remind them of the fun of Halloween while they were at home. A popular care package consists of a 14" black cat in a pumpkin outfit and lots of all-American favorite Halloween treats in a trick-or-treat bag. Inside the bag are candy corn, chocolate ghosts, microwave buttern popcorn, M & M's, Reese's Halloween peanut butter filled pumpkin, and foil wrapped Halloween candies. Sending the care package is a good way to let your recipients know you care about them.

Halloween gifts are not only for kids. You can leave a gift tote on your neighbor's door step to share the Halloween spirit, put it on a coworker's desk at work or send them as business gifts to your clients and business associates. In fact, Halloween gifts are popular business gifts.  They are inexpensive, and deliver plenty of good will and fun to your customers and business prospects. You can send them a Halloween candy bouquet. 

Alternatively, you can send the Batty Bear's cauldron of treats. Batty bear, in his bat hat and mask, delivers an array of yummy treats.  Includes peppermint patties, Reese's peanut butter pumpkin, Laffy Taffy bar, M & M's, Hershey dark chocolate bar, witches wart candies, marshmallow peeps ghost, Halloween candy corn, microwave popcorn, and RIP coffin filled with skeleton bones. Batty Bear will be the attraction of the Halloween party, dazzles on a reception desk or in a dorm room.

In summary, the focus of Halloween is on fun activities and candy treats. Send a Halloween gift basket, care package, gift box, or Halloween candy bouquet to your favorite trick-or-treaters, and they will always remember the fun and love that you share.